Patrick Mahomes put on a beyond phenomenal performance against the Tennessee Titans Sunday in the KC Chiefs 35-24 victory at Arrowhead Stadium in KC.

Mahomes was 23 of 35 for 294 yards, 3 TDs and 0 ints and finished with a 120.4 rating, which is outstanding. 158.3 is perfect and anything above 120 is elite. He also had one of the greatest TD runs by a quarterback you’ll ever see, I’d call it the play of the year. With the Titans leading 17-14 and time running out in the first half, it looked as if the Chiefs might settle for a field goal and tie the game going into the half. But Mahomes dropped back to pass, saw a running lane on the left side of the field, broke a couple of tackles, tight roped the sideline and basically carried a cornerback into the endzone. It was phenomenal, spectacular and memorable all rolled into one. He connected with Tyreek HIll for 2 TD passes and Sammy Watkins for another, a beautiful 60 yarder that sealed the victory for the Chiefs. Watkins caught 7 passes for 114 yards along with his TD. Hill caught 5 passes for 67 yards and 2 TDs.

And the Chiefs defense locked down on Derrick Henry. After rushing for over a buck 80 in his first 2 playoff games against New England and Baltimore respectively, Henry only rushed for 69 yards on 19 carries against the Chiefs. He did score a TD in the first half when he was having some success. The Chiefs shut him down in the second half. Frank Clark, Tyrann Mathieu and Reggie Ragland had their way with the Titans offense in the second half.

49ers 37, Packers 20

The story for the Niners was their running game and specifically Raheem Mostert, who rushed for 220 yards on 29 carries and cashed in 4 TDs. The 27 year old 5th year player from Purdue who has been with 6 NFL teams, was outstanding with his power and 4.4 speed. It was fantastic to watch.

Niners quarterback Jimmy Garopolo threw just 8 passes completing 6 of them for 69 yards. Pretty much a throwback gameplan by the 49ers. The San Francisco defense got pressure on Aaron Rodgers all afternoon led by their great defensive end Nick Bosa. They’ve got a dominating defensive front. Rodguhs completed 31 of 39 passes for 326 yards with 2 TDs but also 2 ints, one by Emmanuel Moseley and the other by Richard Sherman. It was just the 49ers day.

Super Bowl 54

Miami and Hard Rock Stadium will be the host for Super Bowl LIV on Sunday, February 2nd with kickoff at approximately 5:30 PM CT on FOX. Joe Buck, Troy Aikman, Erin Andrews and Chris Myers will handle the broadcast.

It’s a matchup of a superb offense versus a superb defense. Can the Niners have a shot at somewhat slowing down the great Mahomes, who to me is the best quarterback in the NFL right now. The guy looks unstoppable. But 49ers defensive coordinator Robert Saleh is an exceptional defensive coach and will have his gameplan and troops ready for battle. I like Saleh to be a head coach in the near future. I’m kind of surprised the guy didn’t get a job after this regular season. He looks like a guy you would want running your football team. He’s got a great coaching look about him and he’s built like a Thoroughbred. Very impressive guy and you can tell what kind of coach he is by the way his defense attacks, gets to the quarterback and creates turnovers. It’ll be a great chess match between KC Coach Andy Reid and Saleh. The Chiefs are presently 1 point favorites so Vegas is seeing this as a tight contest. I agree with that assessment.

Australian Open predictions

The 108th edition of the Australian Open commenced yesterday in Melbourne and it should be an electric 2 weeks. The men’s singles still has the dominant Big Three of Djokovic, Nadal and Federer. Novak is going for major 17 and he’s won the Australian 7 times. He’s closing in on Rafa’s dominance at Roland Garros and Roger’s dominance at Wimbledon. Rafa’s dominance at the French may never be matched though in any other major by a single player. Rafa has won the French Open 12 times and counting. He’s only won once at the Australian in 2009. Roger has won 8 times at Wimbledon though he lost to Novak last year in the final. He has actually won 6 Australian championships. The 38 year old Swede has the all time majors record at 20. Rafa is 1 back at 19 and Novak is 4 back at 16. Rafa is 33 and Djoker is 32. So very interesting race for the majors crown going on with the Big Three. This is historic stuff that these guys are doing. Can one of them emerge once again. Here are my predictions.

I’ve got Rafa in a very difficult match with Nick Kyrgios of Australia in the fourth round. They are archrivals much like the Packers and Bears. They don’t like each other. Rafa doesn’t like the way Kyrgios acts and Kyrgios wants what Rafa has, so it’s quite a heated rivalry and good theater when they face off.

Rafa holds a slight 4-3 advantage over Kyrgios.

I like Rafa to emerge from that in a 5 setter, 4-6, 7-5, 7-5, 3-6, 9-7. It may be the match of the tournament along with the final.

Here are the rest of my predictions for the men.

Men’s Semifinals

No.1 Rafa over No.4 Danill Medvedev (Russia)

6-4, 7-5, 3-6, 6-3

No.2 Novak Djokovic over No.3 Roger Federer

6-4, 7-5, 6-3

Final

Give me Rafa in a classic.

Nadal over Djokovic 5-7, 7-6 (7-5), 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (9-7)

The final will be broadcast by ESPN, Sunday, February 2nd, from 2:30 AM CT-5:30 AM CT. A better idea may be to watch the Encore Coverage on ESPN2 Sunday, 2-2 ,from 7 AM-11 AMCT if you don’t have Church.

Women

Women’s Tennis, Men’s Golf and horse racing are the toughest sports to predict in all of sports. You just don’t know which of the women will show up for 7 rounds of tennis. Here’s what I got.

Semifinals

No.1 Ashleigh Barty (Australia) over No.8 Serena

6-4, 6-7 (3-7), 6-3

No.21 Amanda Anisimova (USA) over No.4 Simona Halep (Romania)

7-5, 6-7 (4-7) 7-6 (7-5)

Anisimova is 18 and a rising star. She reached the 4th round of the Australian last year and the semis of the French last year. Her father and coach, Konstantin Anisimov, suddenly and tragically passed away last August of a heart attack at the age of 52. It was shocking and upsetting for the American whose father and mother are of Russian descent. She is back though and looks to be strong again. That’s tough for an 18 year old to take, but in an article by the New York Post on Anisimova, she has handled it as well as can be expected. I expect her to play well.

Final

Anisimova over Barty 6-4, 5-7, 7-5

I like the young, rising American to make a statement in Melbourne and capture the first of what could be several majors. She’s a talent.

The women’s final will be broadcast by ESPN Saturday, February 1st at 2:30 AM-5:30 AM CT and the Encore Coverage is on ESPN2 Saturday, 2-1, from 7 AM-11 AM CT.

Should be a thrilling week. ESPN2 and the Tennis Channel will have many hours of coverage in the next 2 weeks. There has been rain in Australia lately which has helped alleviate the continent from horrific and tragic fires that have struck. The air quality has been pretty good in Melbourne this week so far. Last week it was not and the tournament’s status was questionable.

Hopeful that they can extinguish the fires for the continent’s sake. The fires have claimed 28 lives and destroyed millions of acres of land. Hopes and prayers are that Australia can get through this and return to normal as they clean up the destruction of land and housing. Tournament is going well as of now.